Roof Shingles Cleaning

Asphalt roof shingles can develop black streaks, algae, lichens and moss particularly on the shady side of the house, the north side, or around and under trees. While the dark streaks are mostly unsightly and harmless, they indicate conditions favorable to the future formation of algae, lichens and moss which will damage your roof shingles.

What causes these formations and growths? Millions of microscopic spores are floating around in the atmosphere all of the time. Eventually they will settle on your roof shingles. When conditions are favorable, like the presence of moisture and shade, you will get the establishment of colonies of mold, algae, lichens and moss. When enough of these microbes accumulate they become visible. Lichens, moss and algae are problematic because their tiny root system will penetrate through the granules and destroy the bond between the granules and the asphalt based mat that they are adhered to. This has the effect of damaging your roof shingles and shortening their life. Proof of this is that when we clean roofs that have been allowed to accumulate lichens and moss, bald spots will exist where the lichens and moss previously existed prior to our removing them.

Do not allow this condition to happen. If it already has, don’t hesitate to call on us to clean your roof to prevent any further damage.

Our Cleaning Process:
We use a “Soft Wash” method to clean roof shingles. We will apply a cleaning solution to your asphalt roof shingles that will immediately remove the black streaks. The more hardy and problematic lichens, algae, and moss have a lot of mass. These will be killed as evidenced by their turning brown. Mother nature’s rain will then gently remove the residual mass of these now neutralized offenders. It will take several substantial rain events to dislodge and flush the dead moss and lichens into the gutters. If you prefer to not wait for the rain to finish the job, we can apply just enough pressure wash to dislodge and flush away the mass. This would take more time and expense, but we’re happy to offer this option.

When we clean your roof shingles there will be no roof damage caused by our cleaning process.